Gallipoli Campaign

Tomorrow marks the 100 year anniversary of the start of the Gallipoli campaign fought between the Ottoman Empire and the allies including the British Empire and France. The campaign lasted until the 9th of January 1916 and was one of the greatest Ottoman victories of the war.

 

1915-16

• 350,000 British troops, 35,000 died
• 79,000 French troops, 10,000 died
• 74,000 Anzac troops, 10,000 died
• 400,000 Turkish troops, 86,000 died

 

Source

 

As you can see the losses on both sides were very high and it was a brutal campaign that was a big blow to the allies in 1915 and early 1916.

Gallipoli was also a high profile failure for Winston Churchill who would later lead Britain in the Second World War. He promoted the idea of the invasion as a way to end the war quickly and pressed forward with the plans despite the rest of the cabinet being less enthusiastic. His idea that they would be able to defeat an empire that he saw as backwards turned into a nightmare and irreparably harmed the reputation of Prime Minister Asquith and his war committee eventually leading to Asquith resigning and Churchill being demoted in a new David Lloyd George led government.

We have several books about Gallipoli on our online catalogue. I particularly want to recommend 'Gallipoli' by Peter Hart which is a really interesting and engaging read written by an oral historian for the Imperial War Museum.